- Joined
- Jul 31, 2020
- Messages
- 765
Yes, the very high frequency, very high voltage tubes are always the hardest part. Were you going to use a Van de Graff with a sprayed charged belt as your voltage source? This was the approach I was using on a D-Style accelerator. I ended up using a Magnetron tube which still had some life in it. My parents ended up figuring it out, and hid my tube and 14k.v. transformer for the Spray charge. When I moved out at 18, they gave them back to me, and said I could go play with that stuff at my apartment. By that time, I had fostered a serious interest in girls and had "better things" to do. I remember when I was young, having trouble relating to other kids, they thought Lincoln Logs and Erector sets were "serious engineering".@homebrewed I couldn't find the right tubes for a cyclotron, so I made a linear accelerator like the new one (at the time) in California.
The Science Fair judges never believed I built the projects which I constructed, and quietly removed me from consideration for any prizes or awards. Only the University of Oklahoma judges took the time to interview me, and realized I was actually designing and building my projects. They offered me my first serious job when I was 17. I worked one summer building their scientific instrumentation electronics for one of their physics labs. The job was mostly calibrating sensors, fixing things like Flux-Gate magnetometers, and building ultra low-noise instrumentation amps. I paid for my car in one Summer with the money earned.
I worked as a Machinist for a few years, as the money they were paying machinists for oil-field production equipment was insane... until the bottom dropped out of that market.
I worked for another couple physics labs for a total of about 18 years, but as the years passed, the gulf between the pay for "pure research" jobs, and private sector jobs grew. I ended up going to the private sector for several years. Prior to going private sector, I had joined the National Guard as a 44e (Machinist), and over the years ended up gaining three additional MOS (21b Combat Engineer/demolition, 31u Communications, and 92y Supply).
I deployed to Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom One and Two, 2003-2005. When I came back, I went to work as a Test Engineer on a Base. I have remained in that field.
Sorry if some of my statements seem vague, it is by intent.
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